This invention relates generally to pump sets and pumps to deliver fluids to patients by way of a flow control apparatus, and more particularly to a method for using a pump set having a safety interlock device to control operation of a pump.
Administering fluids containing medicine or nutrition to a patient is well known in the art. Fluids can be delivered to patients by gravity flow, but often are delivered to the patient by a pump set loaded on a flow control apparatus, such as a peristaltic pump, which delivers fluid to the patient at a controlled rate of delivery. A peristaltic pump usually comprises a housing that includes a rotor or the like operatively engaged to at least one motor through a gearbox. The rotor drives fluid through the tubing of the pump set by the peristaltic action effected by rotation of the rotor by the motor. The motor is operatively connected to a rotatable shaft that drives the rotor, which in turn progressively compresses the tubing and drives the fluid at a controlled rate through the pump set. A controller operates the motor to drive the rotor. Other types of peristaltic pumps not employing rotors are also known.
In order for the pump to deliver an accurate amount of fluid corresponding with the flow parameters programmed into the pump, the administration feeding set must be correctly loaded on the pump. If the pump set is misaligned in the pump, the pump may deliver an inaccurate amount of fluid to a patient or the pump generates a low flow alarm requiring the condition to be examined and the set reloaded. Existing pumps have systems to detect whether the pump set is properly loaded. An example of such a pump having a detection system is shown in co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,703, entitled SAFETY INTERLOCK SYSTEM FOR MEDICAL FLUID PUMPS, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. This system uses a magnet on the pump set which is detected by circuitry in the pump. It would be desirable to provide a pump set that can be detected but which does not require each pump set to have a magnet.